Former Bishop of Lewes faces sex abuse charge in Brighton court

The former Bishop of Lewes is due to appear before Brighton magistrates charged with indecently assaulting a boy and misconduct in public office.

Peter Ball, 82, who began his career as a curate in Rottingdean in the 1950s, faces three charges.

Ball, who served as the Bishop of Lewes from 1977 to 1992, is accused of misconduct in public office. He is alleged to have misused his position and authority to manipulate and prevail upon others for his own sexual gratification.

The other two charges are that he indecently assaulted a boy of 12 or 13 in 1978 and a man of 19 or 20 between dates in 1980 and 1982.

Sussex Police said that it had been told by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) on Thursday (27 March) that it had authorised the prosecution of Ball, of Langport, Somerset.

The decision by the CPS followed Operation Dunhill, an investigation by Sussex Police detectives into information received from the Church of England in May 2012.

The detectives, working with the co-operation of the Church of England, investigated alleged sexual offences by Ball against 19 men and young boys. They were in their late teens or early twenties, except for two who were 12 or 13.

The abuse is said to have taken place at addresses in East Sussex and elsewhere from the 1970s to the early 1980s.

Ball was arrested in November 2012 but was released at his home that afternoon on medical advice without being interviewed.

It was subsequently established, following medical advice, that he was not medically fit to be further arrested, or interviewed by police.

However, in March last year he was supplied by police with details in writing of the allegations against him, and supplied a written response.

This response was submitted to the CPS in May, along with all the other evidence obtained during the investigation.

The CPS is arranging the service of summons on Ball, who also served as Bishop of Gloucester briefly until he retired in 1993.

He is due to appear at Brighton Magistrates’ Court on Thursday 10 April.